


Close Your Eyes and Take a Leap

by octobersymphony



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-06
Updated: 2012-08-06
Packaged: 2017-11-11 13:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/479137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octobersymphony/pseuds/octobersymphony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Canada 2008. There are worse things than snakes on a plane, whatever Hollywood tells you. Drunk Finns on a plane, for instance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Close Your Eyes and Take a Leap

Sunday night after the Canadian Grand Prix, Bob and the BMW boys are celebrating their victory, and that apparently sets in motion a chain of events that lead to Heikki hitching a ride home to Switzerland with Kimi. 

Kimi is reasonably sure that Heikki did, at some point, explain the connection between the BMW one-two victory and his presence on Kimi's private jet – something about Fernando being too drunk to go anywhere – but that was two and a half bottles of vodka ago, and Kimi doesn't really remember or care. 

There's an impossibly giggly, inebriated McLaren driver sprawled across one of the couches in the cabin, and the only way to get rid off him would be to open the emergency exit door and kick him out. Kimi isn't far enough gone to seriously consider that, so apparently Heikki is here to stay, and contemplating the why and wherefore he got here in the first place won't make any difference. If Kimi is honest with himself, and he's too drunk not to be, then he has to admit that he doesn't truly mind.

Heikki almost topples over when he leans forward to set the bottle down on the floor and give it a twist. It's not quite empty yet, and alcohol spills on the egg-shell carpet floor, making Kimi frown. He doesn't really mind the wet stains, even if the cleaning crew will probably give him the evil eye tomorrow, but it seems like a waste of perfectly fine vodka. 

He'd complain, but just as he opens his mouth to chide Heikki for lacking the proper appreciation of his alcohol, Heikki grins at him and Kimi shuts up, feeling vaguely like he was about to kick a puppy.

"So, Kimi, truth or dare?" Heikki asks, never mind that they haven't been playing spin the bottle to begin with – and even if they had, the bottle isn't pointing anywhere near Kimi.

Kimi waves his hand in a gesture that's supposed to mean, 'Stop bothering me, I'm not in the mood', but which Heikki apparently takes as, 'Whatever, you decide.' 

"Truth, then." Heikki nods and gnaws on his lower lip, which makes him look either adorable or retarded – Kimi can't quite decide. Apparently, it also distracts Kimi enough that the time window within which he could have objected to playing twenty questions comes and goes. He's starting to suspect Heikki isn't half as drunk as he pretends to be, the sneaky bastard.

So when Heikki asks, "Why aren't you angrier?" he just shrugs with one shoulder and says, "You amuse me. And it's my own fault for letting you on the plane." 

It makes perfect sense to him, but it must have been the wrong thing to say because Heikki momentarily looks utterly confused. 

Next he knows, a pillow comes flying at him. He dodges it but loses balance in the process, sliding from the cushions until he's sitting straight-legged down on the floor.

"Not at _me_ , idiot." Heikki throws him what probably passes for a glare in Heikki-land. "You're not supposed to be mad at me. I think. At Lewis, I mean."

It actually takes him a couple of seconds to remember why he's supposed to be mad at Hamilton, who isn't spilling alcohol in his plane or annoying him with inane questions or attacking him with pillows. When the memory comes back to him, he winces. Right, _that_.

Another half-shrug. "I don't know. It was just stupid. Would have been funny, if it hadn't been me." He thinks that should suffice as an explanation, but Heikki keeps looking at him expectantly so he adds, "I don't mind him. He's not a bad guy." There's a 'no matter what Fernando says' hidden in there somewhere, but he figures he doesn't need to say it out loud, because Heikki has been on the receiving side of Fernando's rants about McLaren in general and Lewis in particular about as often as him last season, and he will get the point.

Heikki turns that 100 mega-watt smile on him, the one that might be a little mischievous if he wasn't so mellow. 

"He likes you." It's an innocuous enough thing to say, but Heikki over-emphasizes the verb, as if to make extra sure that Kimi will understand.

He raises his eyebrow. "He said that?"

"No, he draws little hearts with your name on the telemetry print-out." Heikki rolls his eyes at Kimi. "Of course he said it."

"Huh." 

Kimi is pretty sure that Lewis never said it like that, emphasis and all. But Heikki is usually pretty good at reading people, so if Heikki, even drunk and with his tongue more loose than usual, tells him that Lewis _likes_ him, Kimi is inclined to believe him.

He's too busy contemplating that when he realizes that Heikki is still talking. 

"First Massa, then Fernando last season, now you... Ron would have his head, if he knew. Seriously, I've never seen anyone with such an unhealthy history of crushes." 

Just like that, from one second to the next, the grin slides off Heikki's face and he corrects himself, "Well, not in Formula 1 anyway." 

Kimi wants to ask what – _who_ – Heikki means, but there's a sudden and unfamiliar bitterness in the younger man's voice and shadows on his face that seem out of place, and Kimi knows it wouldn't be a good time to press the matter. He wishes he weren't so drunk so he would remember this conversation and get this particular story out of Heikki some other time. But as prone to verbal diarrhoea as Heikki is, there are a couple of things in his past he's oddly tight-lipped about. Right now, that seems infinitely more interesting than some ill-advised crush Hamilton may or may not have on Kimi. Well, maybe not more _interesting_ , but a safer line of thought, anyway.

Fortunately for him, their previous topic of conversation is as quickly forgotten as it came up. 

Heikki picks up the bottle and lifts it to his lips, before holding it away and regarding it with a distasteful look. "Empty." 

It's not like Kimi doesn't believe him, but Heikki seems to deem it necessary to turn it upside down and prove his point, a few final drops raining down. 

Kimi wonders whether he should tell Heikki that there are at least two more bottles in the mini fridge. But his alcohol is obviously wasted on the guy, so he decides to keep his mouth shut. The downside, of course, is that there's no more vodka for him either tonight. He wonders whether he can wait until Heikki falls asleep and then sneak out of the room and get himself another bottle.

He's still busy working on that plan when his eyes get heavy and, even though he tries to stay awake, it's a fight he cannot win.

His sleep is uneasy and frequently disturbed by turbulence. He has weird dreams about pushing a giggling Heikki out of a flying plane and Lewis kissing him in the middle of the paddock while the photographers snap around them. 

Five hours later – his body tells him it's still in the middle of the night, but he's not sure what time zone his body thinks he is currently inhabiting – the stewardess, a pretty dark-haired girl called Cynthia, wakes him by gently shaking his arm to inform him that they'll be landing soon. His head feels two sizes too big, his back aches from sleeping on the floor, and there's a foul taste in his mouth. 

Heikki lies up on the couch across from him, cradling the empty bottle like a cuddly toy. When Kimi throws the pillow at his head, he just frowns in his sleep and turns his back to Kimi without even waking up.

Cynthia, bless her, brings them two cups of coffee. With Heikki still fast asleep, Kimi decides to take advantage and gulps them both down. The coffee's black and bitter and it scalds his tongue, but at least he feels remotely human again afterwards.

The sun is high in the sky when they land in Zurich, but the wind is cool and unpleasant and blows the last remnants of sleepiness away. Heikki, for once lacking both his usual cheer and his chattiness in the face of an impressive hang-over, waves a listless goodbye to him as they go their different ways at the airfield and Kimi drives off to his Wollerau home.

The house is pleasantly empty when he arrives, with Jenni up in Finland for a TV show and the dogs still at a friends' place. 

There are four messages on his answering machine. Two from his PR, about some fan event in France, both of which he deletes after listening to the first five seconds. 

There's also a message from Fernando, who must have called from Montreal around one in the morning local time. Judging by the background noise, he was still out partying somewhere with Bob when he left the message. His accent is more pronounced than usually and the music in the background makes it hard to understand what he's saying. "Heard Heikki roped you into taking him home? Pity you two couldn't stay for the party. I bet you had fun on the plane ride, though." There's another voice that Kimi can't quite understand, then Fernando laughs and says, "Shut up, Robert," and the rest is three and a half minutes of incoherent giggling noise until the machine timed out and cut the message off. It does indeed make Kimi feel a little sorry he missed out on that party.

The last one is from Lewis, who shouldn't even have his top secret home number in the first place. Kimi thinks he might have to throw Heikki out of a plane after all.

"Hey. This is Lewis. Listen, man, sorry about yesterday. That was stupid." He sounds uncomfortable, and Kimi wonders for a moment if the team made him call and apologize. "I'll be over in Geneva until I leave for France next week. If you're around, maybe we could... I don't know, meet up and have a drink on me. Just give me a call. If you're free. If not, I'll see you in France, I guess."

He has never heard Lewis sound so nervous and awkward before and, remembering Heikki's words on the plane last night, Kimi thinks it would probably be the best for both of them to just ignore the message altogether. 

As he reaches out to press delete, though, his finger hesitates on the button, lingering for a moment until he draws his hand back. He snatches a pencil and takes down Lewis' number instead because – _why the hell not?!_ Never mind that he never even thought of Lewis like that before Heikki got drunk and told him, "He likes you" – because now, now he cannot _stop_ thinking about it.

If he didn't know better, he'd think Heikki had planned this all along.

End.


End file.
